The Land of Lonesomeness

Now we had been five days in the boats, and in all this time made no

discovering of land. Then upon the morning of the sixth day came there a

cry from the bo'sun, who had the command of the lifeboat, that there was

something which might be land afar upon our larboard bow; but it was very

low lying, and none could tell whether it was land or but a morning

cloud. Yet, because there was the beginning of hope within our hearts, we

pulled wearily towards it, and thus, in about an hour, discovered it to

be indeed the coast of some flat country.

Then, it might be a little after the hour of midday, we had come so close

to it that we could distinguish with ease what manner of land lay beyond

the shore, and thus we found it to be of an abominable flatness, desolate

beyond all that I could have imagined. Here and there it appeared to be

covered with clumps of queer vegetation; though whether they were small

trees or great bushes, I had no means of telling; but this I know, that

they were like unto nothing which ever I had set eyes upon before.

So much as this I gathered as we pulled slowly along the coast, seeking

an opening whereby we could pass inward to the land; but a weary time

passed or ere we came upon that which we sought. Yet, in the end, we

found it--a slimy-banked creek, which proved to be the estuary of a great

river, though we spoke of it always as a creek. Into this we entered, and

proceeded at no great pace upwards along its winding course; and as we

made forward, we scanned the low banks upon each side, perchance there

might be some spot where we could make to land; but we found none--the

banks being composed of a vile mud which gave us no encouragement to

venture rashly upon them.

Now, having taken the boat something over a mile up the great creek, we

came upon the first of that vegetation which I had chanced to notice from

the sea, and here, being within some score yards of it, we were the

better able to study it. Thus I found that it was indeed composed largely

of a sort of tree, very low and stunted, and having what might be

described as an unwholesome look about it. The branches of this tree, I

perceived to be the cause of my inability to recognize it from a bush,

until I had come close upon it; for they grew thin and smooth through all

their length, and hung towards the earth; being weighted thereto by a

single, large cabbage-like plant which seemed to sprout from the extreme

tip of each.

Presently, having passed beyond this clump of the vegetation, and the

banks of the river remaining very low, I stood me upon a thwart, by which

means I was enabled to scan the surrounding country. This I discovered,

so far as my sight could penetrate, to be pierced in all directions with

innumerable creeks and pools, some of these latter being very great of

extent; and, as I have before made mention, everywhere the country was

low set--as it might be a great plain of mud; so that it gave me a sense

of dreariness to look out upon it. It may be, all unconsciously, that my

spirit was put in awe by the extreme silence of all the country around;

for in all that waste I could see no living thing, neither bird nor

vegetable, save it be the stunted trees, which, indeed, grew in clumps

here and there over all the land, so much as I could see.

This silence, when I grew fully aware of it was the more uncanny; for my

memory told me that never before had I come upon a country which

contained so much quietness. Nothing moved across my vision--not even a

lone bird soared up against the dull sky; and, for my hearing, not so

much as the cry of a sea-bird came to me--no! nor the croak of a frog,

nor the plash of a fish. It was as though we had come upon the Country of

Silence, which some have called the Land of Lonesomeness.

Now three hours had passed whilst we ceased not to labor at the oars, and

we could no more see the sea; yet no place fit for our feet had come to

view, for everywhere the mud, grey and black, surrounded us--encompassing

us veritably by a slimy wilderness. And so we were fain to pull on, in

the hope that we might come ultimately to firm ground.

Then, a little before sundown, we halted upon our oars, and made a scant

meal from a portion of our remaining provisions; and as we ate, I could

see the sun sinking away over the wastes, and I had some slight diversion

in watching the grotesque shadows which it cast from the trees into the

water upon our larboard side; for we had come to a pause opposite a clump

of the vegetation. It was at this time, as I remember, that it was borne

in upon me afresh how very silent was the land; and that this was not due

to my imagination, I remarked that the men both in our own and in the

bo'sun's boat, seemed uneasy because of it; for none spoke save in

undertones, as though they had fear of breaking it.

And it was at this time, when I was awed by so much solitude, that there

came the first telling of life in all that wilderness. I heard it first

in the far distance, away inland--a curious, low, sobbing note it was,

and the rise and the fall of it was like to the sobbing of a lonesome

wind through a great forest. Yet was there no wind. Then, in a moment, it

had died, and the silence of the land was awesome by reason of the

contrast. And I looked about me at the men, both in the boat in which I

was and that which the bo'sun commanded; and not one was there but held

himself in a posture of listening. In this wise a minute of quietness

passed, and then one of the men gave out a laugh, born of the nervousness

which had taken him.

The bo'sun muttered to him to hush, and, in the same moment, there came

again the plaint of that wild sobbing. And abruptly it sounded away on

our right, and immediately was caught up, as it were, and echoed back

from some place beyond us afar up the creek. At that, I got me upon a

thwart, intending to take another look over the country about us; but

the banks of the creek had become higher; moreover the vegetation acted

as a screen, even had my stature and elevation enabled me to overlook

the banks.

And so, after a little while, the crying died away, and there was another

silence. Then, as we sat each one harking for what might next befall,

George, the youngest 'prentice boy, who had his seat beside me, plucked

me by the sleeve, inquiring in a troubled voice whether I had any

knowledge of that which the crying might portend; but I shook my head,

telling him that I had no knowing beyond his own; though, for his

comfort, I said that it might be the wind. Yet, at that, he shook his

head; for indeed, it was plain that it could not be by such agency, for

there was a stark calm.

Now, I had scarce made an end of my remark, when again the sad crying

was upon us. It appeared to come from far up the creek, and from far down

the creek, and from inland and the land between us and the sea. It filled

the evening air with its doleful wailing, and I remarked that there was

in it a curious sobbing, most human in its despairful crying. And so

awesome was the thing that no man of us spoke; for it seemed that we

harked to the weeping of lost souls. And then, as we waited fearfully,

the sun sank below the edge of the world, and the dusk was upon us.

And now a more extraordinary thing happened; for, as the night fell with

swift gloom, the strange wailing and crying was hushed, and another sound

stole out upon the land--a far, sullen growling. At the first, like the

crying, it came from far inland; but was caught up speedily on all sides

of us, and presently the dark was full of it. And it increased in volume,

and strange trumpetings fled across it. Then, though with slowness, it

fell away to a low, continuous growling, and in it there was that which I

can only describe as an insistent, hungry snarl. Aye! no other word of

which I have knowledge so well describes it as that--a note of _hunger_,

most awesome to the ear. And this, more than all the rest of those

incredible voicings, brought terror into my heart.

Now as I sat listening, George gripped me suddenly by the arm, declaring

in a shrill whisper that something had come among the clump of trees upon

the left-hand bank. Of the truth of this, I had immediately a proof; for

I caught the sound of a continuous rustling among them, and then a nearer

note of growling, as though a wild beast purred at my elbow. Immediately

upon this, I caught the bo'sun's voice, calling in a low tone to Josh,

the eldest 'prentice, who had the charge of our boat, to come alongside

of him; for he would have the boats together. Then got we out the oars

and laid the boats together in the midst of the creek; and so we watched

through the night, being full of fear, so that we kept our speech low;

that is, so low as would carry our thoughts one to the other through the

noise of the growling.

And so the hours passed, and naught happened more than I have told, save

that once, a little after midnight, the trees opposite to us seemed to be

stirred again, as though some creature, or creatures, lurked among them;

and there came, a little after that, a sound as of something stirring the

water up against the bank; but it ceased in a while and the silence fell

once more.

Thus, after a weariful time, away Eastwards the sky began to tell of the

coming of the day; and, as the light grew and strengthened, so did that

insatiable growling pass hence with the dark and the shadows. And so at

last came the day, and once more there was borne to us the sad wailing

that had preceded the night. For a certain while it lasted, rising and

falling most mournfully over the vastness of the surrounding wastes,

until the sun was risen some degrees above the horizon; after which it

began to fail, dying away in lingering echoes, most solemn to our ears.

And so it passed, and there came again the silence that had been with us

in all the daylight hours.

Now, it being day, the bo'sun bade us make such sparse breakfast as our

provender allowed; after which, having first scanned the banks to

discern if any fearful thing were visible, we took again to our oars,

and proceeded on our upward journey; for we hoped presently to come upon

a country where life had not become extinct, and where we could put foot

to honest earth. Yet, as I have made mention earlier, the vegetation,

where it grew, did flourish most luxuriantly; so that I am scarce

correct when I speak of life as being extinct in that land. For, indeed,

now I think of it, I can remember that the very mud from which it sprang

seemed veritably to have a fat, sluggish life of its own, so rich and

viscid was it.

Presently it was midday; yet was there but little change in the nature of

the surrounding wastes; though it may be that the vegetation was

something thicker, and more continuous along the banks. But the banks

were still of the same thick, clinging mud; so that nowhere could we

effect a landing; though, had we, the rest of the country beyond the

banks seemed no better.

And all the while, as we pulled, we glanced continuously from bank to

bank; and those who worked not at the oars were fain to rest a hand by

their sheath-knives; for the happenings of the past night were

continually in our minds, and we were in great fear; so that we had

turned back to the sea but that we had come so nigh to the end of our

provisions.